Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Since I haven't posted in awhile, I just need to say this: Christmas was so fun! Kelly and I flew home and spent the whole time with our families. We need to live close to them! My little sister is all grown up, and we hardly know our adorable nephew, Liam. Since coming back to our one-bedroom apartment in Baltimore, I've been a little melancholy. As Kelly knows, one way to brighten me up is a project or five.

First off, we have been using the IKEA pans from my college days since we got married and Kelly has been yearning for a new set of pans to supplement his "cooker-man skills". After Christmas everything was on sale so I got Kel an extremely early birthday present of an awesome new set of pots and pans (he did help me pick them out, though). The problem is, although we have a pretty good-sized kitchen for apartment dwellers, there isn't much cupboard space. We decided that since we got rid of our IKEA pans we could get some IKEA storage for our new ones. It doesn't look that tough, but considering I pretty much did all this by myself, it counts as a project. I mean it did require a trip to Lowes for a stud finder, screws, anchors, and a level AND I got to get out the drill.

We also got an extra hangy-hook thing, to help us clear out our utensil drawer enough to close it easily and to hold some of our spices because we were beginning to despise our old spice rack, an under-the-cupboard paper towel holder, and a red pitcher for other stuffs (including our crab smashers, a staple for Baltimoreans.)

Kelly's Darth Vader spatula is in there too. Ha ha ha

When we took down our Christmas tree our dining room looked very forlorn, so I decided curtains were my next project. Except I couldn't find any I liked that fit. So I thought I'd make some! Except I don't own a sewing machine. But with the magic of today's technology plus an iron, I was able to iron-sticky-stuff-hem them. I thought it might look tacky, but it turned out pretty well, and it probably actually looks better than if I had stitched them since I can never sew anything straight.

New Curtains! I need to get some new place mats and napkins now, though. I'm going for avocado green and goldeny-yellow. Just to move away from our thoroughly red theme. Ithink it will still compliment the dishes.

Still not done, though. Kelly and I went to Ross and saw a picture we really liked and thought would look nice in our dining room, but we decided to wait on it so we could really think about whether we wanted it or not. The following Monday was MLKJr day, so we both had it off and we went to Fort McHenry and saw everything and ate Baltimore's best burger at Abby Burger, where they give you a checklist of 50 or so things and you just mark what you want. I'm telling you now, their bison burger on an english muffin with avacado, onion rings, ranch dressing, and bacon is probably going to give you a heart attack, both because of the fat content and the extreme deliciousness. We finished our MLK outing earlier than planned though, so we decided to go back to Ross and get the picture. Of course it was gone. Of course we found something(s) better! So we finally found something to take up the horrible huge blank wall in our bedroom and a really cool frame and picture for our dining room.

Curtains and a new picture! ...And the ugly light and table.

I think it looks better in person, but here's a picture of all threeTwo pictures and our bed with our Level 6 Warmth blanket for cold nights

Before on that wall in the dining room I had some old lithographs that Mimi (my grandma, for those who don't know) gave me. Okay, I took them because they were stacked on the floor in her basement, but I asked first. They are cool pictures of colonial Williamsburg, but the frames were kind of super hideous. Painted brown with a teal stripe all the way around. So I took them out of the frames, sanded them down, painted them black (I didn't even have to buy anything because I still had everything I needed from my mirror project), and rehung them in yet another blank space in our home, over the TV. Hooray!

Ug-a-ly old frames. 3 sanded, 1 to go.

Ug-a-ly old frames finished with a new coat of paint and hanging in their new spot over the TV.Side story: see the roses? Kelly knew I was having a bad day last week and while I was still at work he walked to the store and bought me a dozen roses and surprised me with them and an after school snack when I got home!Pretty, huh?

About Me

I'm Dani. I love my husband, Kelly, and our son, Tommy. I also like good dose of sarcasm, learning, laughing, attempting to be witty, reading, rereading my favorites, watching movies, and British humor. I hate that stupid stop light I always miss and I am ridiculously scared of birds so I don't like them much either. I graduated from SUU with a bachelors in European History and a Music minor. I live in Baltimore where I taught high school History for five years and earned my masters at Johns Hopkins. Most recently, I've become a stay at home mom and hang out with Baby T all day, and I'm loving it!